NEW ORLEANS — Bobby Jindal, a conservative Republican congressman from the New Orleans suburbs and the son of immigrants from India, was elected Louisiana’s governor on Saturday.
Jindal, 36, defeated three challengers in an open primary, becoming the state’s first nonwhite governor since a Reconstruction-era figure briefly held the office 130 years ago.
With about 92 percent of the ballots counted, Jindal received 53 percent of the vote.He will be the nation’s first Indian-American governor when he takes office in January.
Jindal’s victory over a state Democratic Party weakened by perceptions of post-hurricane incompetence and corruption was expected, as he has had an overwhelming lead in polls for months.
Dad charged in fatal sled accident
VANCOUVER, WASH. — Authorities charged a man Friday with vehicular homicide in a sledding accident that killed his 9-year-old daughter.
Peter Gecho was pulling the girl, Madison, in an inner tube behind his pickup when the tube slammed into a low brick wall Jan. 16, according to Clark County Superior Court documents.
Witnesses told police that Gecho had been drinking and that the girl was not wearing a helmet, prosecutors said.
Gecho is due for an initial court appearance Nov. 6.
UAW locals reject contract
DETROIT — Workers at three more United Auto Workers locals have rejected a tentative contract agreement between the union and Chrysler LLC, casting doubt on whether the deal will be ratified.
Members in Missouri, Ohio and Delaware voted against the deal Friday and Saturday even as union leaders from Detroit spent the later part of the week lobbying for yes votes.
The contract failed Saturday at Local 110 in Fenton, Mo., one of Chrysler’s largest, with 2,781 hourly workers at the South Assembly Plant.
A recording at the Local 110 union hall said Saturday that 66 percent of skilled trades workers voted against the contract, while 79 percent of nonskilled workers opposed it. It didn’t give the number of workers who voted.
Kid’s gun drawing nets suspension
DENNIS TOWNSHIP, N.J. — A second- grader’s drawing of a stick figure shooting a gun earned him a one-day school suspension.
Kyle Walker, 7, was suspended last week for violating Dennis Township Primary School’s zero-tolerance policy on guns, the boy’s mother, Shirley McDevitt, told The Press of Atlantic City.
Kyle gave the picture to another child on the school bus, and that child’s parents complained about it to school officials, McDevitt said.
A photocopy of the picture showed two stick figures with one pointing a crude-looking gun at the other, the newspaper said. What appeared to be the word “me” was written above the shooter, with another name scribbled above the other figure.
Petting zoo a gross-out
RIVERSIDE, CALIF. — The University of California at Riverside is using a cockroach petting zoo to attract students and parents to an upcoming recruitment fair. The zoo will include several species, including the famous, palm-sized Madagascar hissing cockroach.
Also in plentiful supply: rubber gloves for the squeamish.
The Nov. 3 event targets high school students interested in careers as science teachers or engineers, said Steve Gomez, co-director of The Copernicus Project, one of two campus sponsors of the event.
“Everybody gets grossed out at first,” Gomez said. “But then they find out what uses they have in agriculture, like pest elimination.”
